118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3959 

AN ACT 

To require the Transportation Security Administration to 

streamline the enrollment processes for individuals applying for a Transportation Security Administration security 

threat assessment for certain programs, including the 

Transportation Worker Identification Credential and 

Hazardous Materials Endorsement Threat Assessment 

programs of the Administration, and for other purposes. 
2 

†S 3959 ES

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Transportation Secu5 rity Screening Modernization Act of 2024’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 

8 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis9 trator’’ means the Administrator of the Transpor10 tation Security Administration. 

11 (2) HAZMAT ENDORSEMENT.—The term 

12 ‘‘HAZMAT Endorsement’’ means the Hazardous 

13 Materials Endorsement Threat Assessment program 

14 authorized under section 5103a of title 49, United 

15 States Code. 

16 (3) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of 

17 the several States, the District of Columbia, and the 

18 territories and possessions of the United States. 

19 (4) TSA.—The term ‘‘TSA’’ means the Trans20 portation Security Administration. 

21 (5) TWIC.—The term ‘‘TWIC’’ means the 

22 Transportation Worker Identification Credential au23 thorized under section 70105 of title 46, United 

24 States Code. 
3 

†S 3959 ES

1 SEC. 3. STREAMLINING OF APPLICATIONS FOR CERTAIN 

2 SECURITY THREAT ASSESSMENT PROGRAMS 

3 OF THE TRANSPORTATION SECURITY ADMIN4 ISTRATION. 

5 (a) STREAMLINING.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after 

7 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Adminis8 trator shall take such actions as are necessary, in9 cluding issuance of an interim final rule if needed, 

10 to streamline the procedures for individuals applying 

11 for or renewing enrollment in more than one TSA 

12 security threat assessment program, in particular, 

13 the TWIC and HAZMAT Endorsement programs, 

14 and any other credentialing programs as determined 

15 by the Administrator, by— 

16 (A) permitting an individual to enroll at 

17 any TSA authorized enrollment center once for 

18 a threat assessment program endorsement and 

19 use the application, including associated biomet20 ric and biographic data, as well as information 

21 generated by TSA’s vetting, for one of such 

22 programs to enroll in any other of such pro23 grams; 

24 (B) permitting an individual to visit any 

25 TSA authorized enrollment center and enroll in 

26 more than one TSA security threat assessment 
4 

†S 3959 ES

1 program at the same time for a fee that is less 

2 than the cumulative fee that would otherwise be 

3 incurred for each such program separately; 

4 (C) permitting an individual to undergo a 

5 streamlined and expeditious renewal process; 

6 (D) aligning the expiration of an individ7 ual’s successful, valid eligibility determination 

8 with the expiration of that individual’s eligi9 bility to participate in subsequent TSA security 

10 threat assessment programs to which the indi11 vidual applies; 

12 (E) providing to States the expiration 

13 dates for each individual’s TSA security threat 

14 assessment to ensure a commercial driver’s li15 cense of an individual who holds a HAZMAT 

16 Endorsement does not indicate the individual is 

17 authorized to transport hazardous materials 

18 after the expiration date of the enrollment of 

19 the individual in the HAZMAT Endorsement 

20 security threat assessment program if such 

21 commercial driver’s license has an expiration 

22 date that is different from the expiration date 

23 of such enrollment; and 

24 (F) enrolling an individual in a subsequent 

25 TSA security threat assessment program at the 
5 

†S 3959 ES

1 minimum cost necessary for the TSA to cover 

2 printing, issuance, and case management costs, 

3 costs associated with the collection of any addi4 tional biometric and biographic data in accord5 ance with paragraph (3), and other costs that 

6 are not duplicative. 

7 (2) STATE REQUIREMENTS FOR STREAM8 LINING.—Not later than 6 months after the date of 

9 the enactment of this Act, the States shall carry out 

10 the responsibilities of the States pursuant to section 

11 5103a of title 49, United States Code. 

12 (3) SPECIAL RULE.—If an individual under this 

13 subsection is at different times applying for or re14 newing enrollment in more than one TSA security 

15 threat assessment program, such individual may be 

16 required to revisit a TSA authorized enrollment cen17 ter for the collection of additional data, such as bio18 metrics, necessary for any such program that were 

19 not so collected in connection with any other such 

20 program. 

21 (b) PUBLICATION.—The Administrator shall post on 

22 a publicly available website of the TSA information relat23 ing to the streamlining of the enrollment processes for in24 dividuals applying for more than one TSA security threat 

25 assessment program described in subsection (a). 
6 

†S 3959 ES

1 (c) EXPEDITED RULEMAKING.—Notwithstanding 

2 sections 551 through 559 of title 5, United States Code, 

3 nothing in this section shall require notice and comment 

4 rulemaking, and to the extent it is necessary to add addi5 tional requirements for which limited rulemaking may be 

6 advisable, the Administrator shall implement such require7 ments through publication of an interim final rule. 

8 (d) BRIEFING.—Not later than 180 days after the 

9 date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall 

10 brief Congress on progress made toward the implementa11 tion of this section. 

12 SEC. 4. ELIMINATING DUPLICATIVE COSTS. 

13 (a) AUDIT.—Not later than 1 year after the date of 

14 the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the 

15 United States shall audit the administration of the secu16 rity threat assessment programs by the TSA and the 

17 States, including the TWIC and HAZMAT Endorsement 

18 programs. 

19 (b) ELEMENTS.— 

20 (1) TSA AUDIT.—In conducting the audit of 

21 the TSA required by subsection (a), the Comptroller 

22 General shall— 

23 (A) identify any redundancies and duplica24 tions in costs and administration of security 

25 threat assessment programs that if eliminated 
7 

†S 3959 ES

1 would not impact national security and any 

2 benefits of eliminating such redundancies and 

3 duplications and improving the experiences for 

4 individuals applying for or renewing enrollment 

5 in more than one TSA security threat assess6 ment program; 

7 (B) review the impacts of the implementa8 tion by the TSA of recommendations from pre9 vious studies conducted by the Comptroller 

10 General, including GAO–07–756 and GAO–17– 

11 182, on increasing the efficiency and effective12 ness, and reducing costs, of processing applica13 tions for enrollment and renewal in TSA secu14 rity threat assessment programs; 

15 (C) review the findings of the assessment 

16 required by section 1(b) of the Act entitled ‘‘An 

17 Act to require the Secretary of Homeland Secu18 rity to prepare a comprehensive security assess19 ment of the transportation security card pro20 gram, and for other purposes’’, approved De21 cember 16, 2016 (46 U.S.C. 70105 note; Public 

22 Law 114–278) and determine whether the TSA 

23 has implemented any remedies to redundancies 

24 and duplication identified by that assessment 
8 

†S 3959 ES

1 and whether such implementation impacted na2 tional security; 

3 (D) determine whether there are unique 

4 challenges rural applicants have with accessing 

5 TSA security threat assessment programs; 

6 (E) assess the numbers and locations of 

7 enrollment centers for meeting the needs of 

8 such programs, including determining the ac9 cess provided to rural applicants; 

10 (F) identify potential opportunities that 

11 exist to improve the enrollment center oper12 ations of and customer experience with such 

13 programs; 

14 (G) identify potential opportunities to har15 monize the enrollment, vetting, and renewal 

16 processes of such programs in which similar in17 formation is collected for similar security threat 

18 assessment processes for different vetted cre19 dentials while not impacting national security; 

20 (H) identify other ways the TSA can re21 duce the costs of the TSA security threat as22 sessment programs while not impacting national 

23 security; and 
9 

†S 3959 ES

1 (I) review the vetting, application, and en2 rollment processes of each TSA security threat 

3 assessment program. 

4 (2) STATE AUDIT.—In conducting the audit of 

5 the States required by subsection (a), the Comp6 troller General shall review— 

7 (A) the administration of the HAZMAT 

8 Endorsement program by the States; 

9 (B) methods by which the States could 

10 streamline the HAZMAT Endorsement pro11 gram; and 

12 (C) any potential barriers States face ad13 ministering TSA security threat assessment 

14 programs for individuals applying to TWIC and 

15 the HAZMAT Endorsement program or individ16 uals that already have a TWIC credential. 

17 (c) REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS.—Not later 

18 than 180 days after the date of the completion of the audit 

19 required by subsection (a), the Comptroller General of the 

20 United States shall submit to the Administrator, the Com21 mittee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the 

22 Senate, and the Committee on Homeland Security of the 

23 House of Representatives a report that includes— 
10 

†S 3959 ES

1 (1) a summary and analysis of the costs associ2 ated with the operation and administration of each 

3 individual TSA security threat assessment program; 

4 (2) a summary and analysis of the application 

5 and enrollment costs associated with providing an 

6 individual multiple credentials under TSA security 

7 threat assessment programs; 

8 (3) an identification of any potential duplicative 

9 processes associated with an applicant applying for, 

10 or the vetting or enrollment by the TSA of an indi11 vidual in, a subsequent or multiple TSA security 

12 threat assessment programs; 

13 (4) a breakdown of costs borne by applicants 

14 for current enrollment and renewal processes of such 

15 programs; 

16 (5) ways to improve access to such programs, 

17 including for rural applicants; 

18 (6) any potential recommendations to the TSA 

19 for reducing costs and streamlining the administra20 tion and operation of each TSA security threat as21 sessment program while not impacting national secu22 rity; 

23 (7) any potential recommendations for the TSA 

24 to administer such programs in a way that would 

25 improve national security; and 
11 

†S 3959 ES

1 (8) any potential recommendations for ways 

2 States can improve their role in administering the 

3 HAZMAT Endorsement program and streamline the 

4 application process or reduce costs for individuals 

5 seeking multiple transportation security credentials. 

6 (d) IMPLEMENTATION.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 

8 the date of the receipt of the report required by sub9 section (c), the Administrator shall— 

10 (A) implement the recommendations from 

11 such report; 

12 (B) provide to the Committee on Com13 merce, Science, and Transportation of the Sen14 ate and the Committee on Homeland Security 

15 of the House of Representatives a written noti16 fication detailing— 

17 (i) the timeline for implementation of 

18 each recommendation from the report; 

19 (ii) justifications for any implementa20 tion timeline lasting longer than 2 years; 

21 and 

22 (iii) justifications for recommenda23 tions that the Administrator has declined 

24 to pursue or implement. 
12 

†S 3959 ES

1 (2) BRIEFINGS.—Not later than 60 days after 

2 the date of the receipt of the report required by sub3 section (c), and annually thereafter until the date 

4 that the TSA has implemented each recommendation 

5 made in such report, the Administrator shall brief 

6 the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Trans7 portation of the Senate and the Committee on 

8 Homeland Security of the House of Representatives 

9 on the implementation of recommendations from the 

10 report. 

Passed the Senate November 21 (legislative day, November 20), 2024. 

Attest: 

Secretary. 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3959 

AN ACT 

To require the Transportation Security Administraother purposes. ment programs of the Administration, and for ardous Materials Endorsement Threat Assess- tation Worker Identification Credential and Haz- for certain programs, including the Transpor- rity Administration security threat assessment individuals applying for a Transportation Secu- tion to streamline the enrollment processes for